


Grey Area

by clarityhiding



Series: Cats, Birds, Bats, and the Occasional Spoiler [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Catlad, Gen, Jason Todd is Robin, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Teen Pregnancy, Tim Drake is Catlad, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-06-01 00:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15131051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarityhiding/pseuds/clarityhiding
Summary: Someone's brought down one of Gotham's Finest, and everyone's a little shook up—police, vigilantes, freaks. It's difficult to know what to do when you exist in a grey area between the latter two.





	Grey Area

**Author's Note:**

> I got _Batman: Officer Down_ from the library and ended up having all these feelings that I had to write out. This takes place in the same universe as Of Cats and Conjugals, but many years earlier. This is more like a vignette than complete fic, but whatever.
> 
> Unbeta'd, sorry. :D

It's a school night, so he's _trying_ to get a full eight hours of sleep. Trying because the streets outside seem determined to light up like it's the damned Fourth of July, the way red and blue lights keep flashing past. The sirens make it clear that nothing so festive is going on, so Tim's half-expecting it when Stephanie calls.

 _"Okay, don't freak out, but I just had the weirdest run-in every with Harley Quinn,"_ she starts off by saying.

This alone is wrong on so many levels, chief among them the fact that, "What are you doing out? _Steph_ , you _can't_ ," Tim hisses into the phone, because it wasn't weird enough that he'd started kinda-dating a sort-of vigilante, then _this_ whole mess had to happen.

_"Ugh, lay off. The nighttime hobby has totally effed up my circadian rhythm so my body doesn't know when the hell morning is and the cool air helps my stomach settle, okay? Okay."_

Tim isn't entirely sure that's how this sort of thing works, but he and Stephanie only just found out about this last week and he's still doing research into all the details. Still. "You didn't try to stop her or anything, did you?"

_"What? No, of course not, I'm not an idiot. Plus, Harley sorta likes me and I'm not about to mess that up if I can help it. Anyway, she said to tell you if I saw you that apparently every cop and Bat in the city is hot to catch Catwoman."_

Selina's been a little less than her usual roll-with-the-punches self lately, getting mixed up in all sorts of business that any respectable cat burglar would know better than to get anywhere near, but more than just about anyone else in Tim's life, she's been there over the years. "Okay, I'll look into it," he says, already rolling out of bed and heading for the hidden panel in his closet. "Just do me a favor and get yourself inside? If something big's going down, you're better off opening a window and skipping the nighttime strolls, no matter how your stomach feels."

_"Way ahead of you, kittyfriend. Stray… Oracle put out an all-hands, highest priority call on the Bird channel. The Birds have me benched for now, so I didn't answer, but chatter on the police band has it that someone shot the commissioner."_

Halfway into the tight black jeans that make up Stray's current outfit, Tim nearly trips over his feet. "Oh."

_"Harley said Catwoman didn't do it. But…"_

But Selina hasn't been in a good headspace lately, and she does have a bone to pick with Commissioner Gordon. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Spoiler."

_"Thought you deserved to know, and Harley did want me to pass it on. Like I said, she sorta likes me. The Birds may've taken me under their numerous wings, but I also know better to mess with a good thing."_

 

* * *

 

Because he's almost completely out of the loop, Stray figures his best bet for playing catch-up is to track down a friend who hasn't been benched by a life-draining parasite (alright, that's not fair to Stephanie, but he's still sorting out all his feelings on that front). Keeping in mind what he's been told about Oracle's call to her operatives, he heads for the Clocktower first, figuring it to be the best place to start.

As has been happening all evening, he arrives a little too late, though just in time to see any number of capes leaving. He waits in a rooftop shadow until there's several blocks' distance between Batgirl and Robin, then reaches out a claw to snag himself a bird.

"Holy moly, don't do that!" Robin gasps when he finally comes out of the controlled tumble he used to break his fall. "It's bad enough when Batman springs out of nowhere on me, I don't need you doing it too."

"Sorry," he says, though he isn't really all that sorry. Robin's disappeared into the shadows on him enough times that Stray figures this to be fair payback. "Didn't want to make too much of a fuss and end up with Batgirl too. She's scary."

Robin sighs. "Tell me about it. What are you doing out this late? It's nearly morning."

"I just heard about Commissioner Gordon being shot. Harley Quinn said you Bats wanted Catwoman for it, and I thought…" He isn't entirely sure what he thought, just that he had to do something to help. Not that he's even certain who he's offering his help to, his mentor or the Bats.

"If you're worried about your mama, don't be. It looks like she was just a witness, not the shooter," Robin reassures him, lifting a weight from Stray's shoulders that he hadn't even realized was there.

"The commissioner, do you know—is he—" Stray has never had an encounter with Commissioner Gordon, but a few years back, a couple of Gotham's preeminent citizens were kidnapped, and the good commissioner took it upon himself to check in on their son, to look out for him and offer a kind and comforting presence to a very lost little boy. Not that Robin would know any of that.

"He's out of surgery, but last I heard it was still pretty touch-and-go." Robin reaches out, tentatively resting a hand on his shoulder.

"That's, that's good. He has, um, a daughter, doesn't he? I hope she's okay. It's hard, when your parent's hurt and there's nothing you can do to try and make it better."

The hand on Stray's shoulder tightens, and there's a strange sort of sad eagerness to Robin's voice when he asks, "Stray, are your parents…?"

Catwoman, Robin, and Spoiler have tried hard to teach Stray about the importance of touch when you're feeling hurt, and he decides now is a great time quite literally embrace those lessons. He throws his arms around Robin, pressing his face into the red tunic and the armored muscled under it, hugging tightly. Avoiding inquisitive questions that both of them know Stray will never, ever answer. "I'm sorry your friend was hurt," he whispers.

There's a moment of hesitation, but eventually a hand comes to rest on Stray's back. "Yeah," Robin says. "Me too."

 

* * *

 

He stays out too late, first clinging to Robin and then following the boy to Gotham General so they can be creepy and look through the commissioner's window from the roof of the building opposite. Batman glares when Robin doesn't show up alone, but he doesn't say anything. It's a solemn enough occasion that, for once, the Bat isn't about to try and figure out the little thief that's struck up a friendship with his partner.

Stray slips away before anyone has the bright idea to try and follow him home, but still it's after six by the time he makes it across town to the brownstone. The sun is up and it's too light out to risk getting back in through the window, he has to use the door instead. When he gets in, Dana's puttering around the kitchen, and his dad is leaning against the counter, glaring.

Tim freezes in the doorway. His goggles are in his pocket, his hood's down and the cat ears tucked up out of sight under it, the hem of his jacket's pulled over the equipment on his belt. He looks like a normal teen, if a normal teen decided to stay out all night and only come back after his parents were already up. Maybe some of them do. His three closest friends are two teen vigilantes and a Warlocks & Warriors nerd; he's never been the best at paying attention to what _normal_ teens do.

"Where have you been?" Jack snaps, and Tim shrinks back automatically, even though Dana's already hurrying over, smoothing her husband's ruffled feathers.

"Stephanie wasn't feeling good, and her mom was on-shift all night. She wanted me to come over and sit with her, said all the sirens were freaking her out," he says quickly, the best excuse he can think of. Steph will back him up if his dad checks it out, though Tim doesn't think that's likely.

"This is Gotham! You can't be sneaking off in the middle of the night just because that blond twit wants a booty ca—!" Jack breaks off in a strangled gulp as Dana slowly lifts her heel up from where it's just stomped on his toes.

"Tim, sweetheart, I think what your father is absolutely failing to express here is that while we like Stephanie and think she's a lovely girl, the curfew is there for a reason," Dana says smoothly. "Also, I'm sure you both think you're practically adults, but 15 is awfully young for you to be getting intimate."

"Wait, you think…?" Tim's ears go red as he realizes his parents think he's doing a walk of shame rather than a sneaky slink. "It's not like that, I _swear_."

"What _is_ it like, then?"

They're totally going to take this the wrong way, it's going to make his dad dislike Stephanie even more, but they were going to have to find out sooner or later. It's a pretty hard thing to hide, after all. "Dad, Dana… Stephanie's pregnant."

**Author's Note:**

> [I have a tumblr!](http://themandylion.tumblr.com/) Come visit if you want ridiculous AU headcanons, rants about the English language (and/or educational publishing), plague fangirling, adorable baby bats, and veeeeery occasional fanart.


End file.
